$11.99

It is a time of war. Galbadia, a Global Superpower, has declared war on Dollet, a country whose training academy is home to two personalities: the hot-headed Seifer and the 'lone wolf', Squall Leonhart.

Recommended Requirements

FINAL FANTASY VIII

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Third party DRM: Steam

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Description

It is a time of war. Galbadia, a Global Superpower, has declared war on Dollet, a country whose training academy is home to two personalities: the hot-headed Seifer and the 'lone wolf', Squall Leonhart. Both are equally at conflict with each other as their country is with Galbadia; to others, Squall appears lacking in team spirit, while Seifer lacks the discipline of his rival. However, a chance encounter with the free-spirited Rinoa Heartilly turns Squall's universe upside down; having thrived on discipline, Squall find the carefree Rinoa fascinating. He also begins to dream that he is Laguna Loire, a Galbadian army soldier…

Meanwhile, a sorceress manipulates the most powerful men in Galbadia. Squall and Seifer are forced to cooperate on a mission to assassinate the sorceress. Will they succeed in putting aside their differences, and end the war that has ravaged their planet? What part does the mysterious Laguna play? Only you can decide what happens next, as the greatest Role Playing Adventure of all time returns.."

Key Features

Magic Booster

When Magic Booster is used, the player’s inventory of the following spells is increased by 100:

This version of FFVIII includes the full game “Chocobo World” that was released as a separate application for previous versions. It is possible to play “Chocobo World” directly from the launcher after booting up FFVIII and by fulfilling certain specific conditions in the main game you will also be able to synchronise data between the two games.

New Game Boosters:

High Speed Mode

All scenes (including cutscenes, movies and battles, etc.) can be fast-forwarded. (Fast-forward speeds vary by cutscene, but average about five times normal speed.)

CAUTION, certain computers may not be able to process the game with High Speed Mode. If the game crashes while in High Speed Mode, please restart the game and refrain from using High Speed Mode.

Battle Assistance

Grants the following advantages in battle:

ATB gauge always full

HP always full

Limit Break always available

*Characters die instantly when suffering damage that exceeds their HP.

Customer reviews

79

Unexceptional presentation of hidden treasures

As with the re-release of Final Fantasy VII for the PC, little has changed from the original, which is now, what, over 15 years old?
There's plenty good to be stated about that fact, for, if you're like me in that you've found that there are few titles that have been released in the intervening years that exhibit the qualities you liked about it, you wouldn't hesitate to pick up an even moderately improved version (particularly if you've been made unable to play the original) at a fair price with widescreen support, cheats, achievements, and cloud saves.
However...
The same complaints apply to this re-release. The 3-D models are improved, but the backgrounds are low resolution and make for a strange mix of sharp and muddy. It looks better than 7, but there has been no effort to really augment the product and it's difficult to condone. The soundtrack is in the same punchless midi that everyone's complained about in 7, worse than the original PlayStation tracks. Control is bad unless you use a controller (use a controller). There's no additional content to the main game (there's Chocobo World, originally a Pocketstation game which ties to the game in an optional way, here and launchable from the splash screen when booting the game).
The story here is rich and intricate, with much room for speculation, even if the tropes to begin it are, indeed, tropes. Characters are rich, if underexplored, as is the world as a whole. The battle system is different and, in my opinion, flawed. In it you draw magic from the environment and your enemies and assign the spells to attributes like speed and strength through junctioning. While an interesting mechanic that limits the number of spells at your disposal and might give you pause when you consider using one that bolsters an important stat, spells are too easy to come by and the junction system is too easily exploited and leads to all characters being essentially the same. There is challenge to be found though, should you know where to look (or handicap yourself, but I don't believe you should have to do that), but I felt it on too few occasions and they were some serious peaks compared to the rest of the encounters.
In short: Minimal updates to presentation (with music quality lowered).
Highly interesting story and characters, particularly if you love to consider what is left unsaid about events, motivations, etc... Great speculation material.
Hard to play without a controller.
Battle system is easily exploited and tedious for such a long game (~30-40 hours).
I really enjoyed it for the thinking it made me do, but the amount of fun is diminished by the lacking presentation and the gameplay ease.

85

Final not so Fantasy

When it comes to Final Fantasy I often hear people complain about 8....in the ps era which consisted of Final Fantasy 7, 8, and 9, 8 was looked at as the black sheep. I feel like the style had to do heavily with this.
The game has a bit more of a realistic feel than most, that is for everything..architecture, people design... It just feels a bit more realistic than any other, which shouldn't be a bad thing, but a lot seem to think so....
This game has the open world which after a certain point is free to explore in it's entirety....With so much to do, mini-games, secrets, and all sorts of cool things to come across...

59

Not as epic as the opening sequence was.

In the world of FFVIII, young mercenaries (Known as the SeeD) are trained in three different universities. You're Squall Leonheart, a cadet from the Balamb Garden University, and you're about to take the final exam and become a full-fleshed SeeD.
Your adventure will make your group of SeeDs travel around the world, discover dark secret and fight in a war against a Witch.
The presentation is great (For its time. Remember that the game was first released in 1999) but the story is not as good in my opinion. The characters are annoying (Squall, Liona and Zell in particular) and it's some time hard to feel interested by the story and what will happen to the heroes.
However the real issue of the game is its mechanics. The way you have to collect magic and use it to enhanced your stats (via the G-Force) is tedious at best. Furthermore, the game is not that hard (Enemies are scaled to your level) and it's totally possible to get through the majority of fights simply by using the summonings again and again.
Not a terrible game but clearly my least favourite entry in the franchise.

93

A classic.

Played this game growing up and always felt it was the forgotten gem of the series or the last great game. Some say it is the best in the series and it is understandable why because it has a compelling story, characters, plot, and much more that grabs the player's attention and never lets go. If you are mildly interested, pick this up. Pick up even if you are not. It is a great game regardless. It is not my personal favorite, but it may end up being yours. Adventure into this universe and find out;

80

One of the best Final Fantasy Games

I really enjoyed playing this game as a kid, and to see it return with so much popularity is really cool. The graphics are still as "amazing" as I remember them to be (because they are actually amazing back then, haha) but to ask that much for a game this old seems a little crazy. I'm sure they already have this on the iPod store for people to buy for half the price it is here, but it's still a fantastic game, and plays (and looks) the same way I remember it to. A great game for anybody who likes the Final Fantasy series.